American Legend Cooperative

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The American Legend Cooperative (ALC) is an agricultural marketing cooperative of over 1000 mink fur farmers, best known for its "Blackglama" and "American Legend" brands of fur.

American Legend was formed in 1986 as a merger of the Great Lakes Mink Association (GLMA) and the Mutation Mink Breeders Association (EMBA).

The Great Lakes Mink Association, GLMA, was formed by mink breeders in the Great Lakes region of the United States in 1941 who bred a black-furred mink which they characterize as "the richest, deepest, most lustrous dark mink with the lightest, most flexible leather", and trademarked it as Blackglama. GLMA and ALC have a long-running advertising campaign with the tagline "What becomes a legend most?", featuring a series of celebrities modelling their furs. The mark "Blackglama" is a play on the word "glamor" and the initialism "GLMA".

The Mutation Mink Breeders Association, EMBA, was formed in 1942 by mink ranchers specializing in clear bright fur colors, to which they gave distinctive tradenames: Autumn Haze (brown), Desert Gold (light brown), Argenta (grey), Cerulean (blue), Lutetia (gunmetal), Azurene (pale grey), Jasmine (white), Tourmaline (pale beige), Arcturus (lavender beige), Diadem (pale brown), Aeolian (grey taupe).^[1] EMBA used the trademark "The American Mink".

[edit] Notes

^ Richard M. Shackelford, "Domestic Production of Mink and Foxes", Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth annual National Breeders' Roundtable, 1980. full text